We thank the High Commissioner for her oral update. (We share her concerns regarding the grave human rights situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOK). The High Commissioner is equally justified in demanding immediate access to Indian Occupied Kashmir.)

It has now been exactly 38 days since Indian Occupied Kashmir went into a total communications blackout. 38 days of unlimited licence to the belligerent occupier to kill, rape, torture and blind Kashmiris. Pre-5th August, OHCHR in its Kashmir Reports has comprehensively documented the egregious human rights violations by Indian forces with full impunity under PSA and AFSPA. Now with the cover of information blackout, we fear the worst.

The clock is ticking. With more than 8 million Kashmiris incarcerated for more than 912 hours and counting, the humanitarian and human rights situation is grave. Kashmiris are desperate for food, medicines, access to medical services and other basic necessities.

Mr. President,

The curfew is draconian and absolute. BBC has reported that Kashmiris consider death a better option than inhuman and excruciating torture by Indian occupation forces. India must answer:

Why have 6,000 young boys been abducted?

Why was Urologist Omer Saleem taken into custody – his crime was simply to ask for medicines for his dying patients?

Why has the entire Kashmiri leadership put in jail?

Who gave Indian army permission to molest and rape women in house raids?

Why is India stopping local authorities in IOK from issuing death certificates and registering cases of injured protestors?

Who is responsible for serious injuries and deaths due to the use of illegal pellet guns?

India must answer to the concern of the Council, OHCHR, Special Procedures, civil society and most importantly Kashmiris. India’s knee jerk response of attacking anyone who questions its state repression in IOK must be forcefully rebuked by the international community.

Human Rights are universal and not an internal or bilateral issue. The oppressor seems to have an insatiable appetite for human rights abuses.

The Council cannot be a bystander and let India continue with its unrestrained repression. Every hour we do not act, a young girl, boy, a toddler, or an elderly falls prey to torture, rape, extrajudicial killing, arrest, detention or other forms of inhuman treatment in IOK. If we are unable to protect the 8 million people facing imminent genocide, then the very foundation, spirit and credibility of this Council will crumble.